Just Another Mission
by PseudonymHere
Summary: ADOPTED FROM BLACK PHANTOM MURDER Alex was sent to Death Valley to confirm suspicions of illegal experements. What happens when Alex gets caught and is experemented on? Read to find out! T cause I feel like it. Possible K-Unit.
1. Chapter 1

Thank you everyone for reading this. I am stuck at a Harry Potter/Monochrome Factor story so I decided to do this fic. I do not own Harry Potter or Maximum Ride. All rights reserved to J. and James Patterson.

Chapter 1: Crash and Burn

It was just another MI6 operation.

"Alex" My Blunt said, well, bluntly. "We need you to infiltrate a lab in a place called Death Valley in America. There have been rumours that there are illegal experimentations going on. Smithers will give you some gadgets for this mission." I walked down the corridor and took the lift to the basement where my only friend in MI6 was. I had just given up arguing with Blunt. He always used me because of my skills and success rate.

"Alex! You're still alive. I'm glad I can still work with you."  
"Hello Smithers. What have I got this time?" I replied. The man was as cheerful and happy as usual.

"Well since it was on such short notice I could only make two. The first is this M&M's pack. They are each a small bomb. All you need to do is snap it in half and set it wherever you need. It is a small explosion but it can take away chunks of metal. The other one here is this watch. Pull the little nob and it will bring out a concealed knife. Very handy with cutting ropes and such things."

"Thank you Smithers for your work." I said, leaving for home. The flight was tomorrow and because of the short notice Jack was yelling her head off at me. She eventually let me leave the next day after lots of promises.

I got to America without any trouble. The lab I was to investigate was a totally different matter. As I was going through the trees I was hit with a large meaty paw (?) in the back of my head. It knocked me unconscious before I hit the soft earth below.

I woke up in a dog cage with a throbbing headache. The people had taken all my gadgets that would have given me some means of escape. The cages beside me where full of different mutations like monkey, turtle and lizard. They were all cowering in fear when the scientists came in. My cage was opened and I was dragged out.

They had taken me down with anaesthetic as soon as I left the cage. I guessed that whatever they were going to do would not be pretty.

I slowly regained consciousness after what must have been hours. The scientists where all talking about a new DNA inside a subject. I guess that was me then. I started sitting up, feeling dizzy as I did so. Some men came and dragged me off then, putting me back in the dog crate. What had they done to me. Suddenly I felt a furriness behind me and stared in shock at what was now a part of me.

Well that is the first chapter. **I have a choice for everyone. Alex can have either Bird DNA or Cheetah DNA. You have till 7/25/12 to reply for your vote to count.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So hi! This is the first chapter that I have written myself, I hope you like it! So Alex has bird DNA because I felt like it, and this is before Scorpia Rising (mostly because I haven't read it yet... I'm a bad fan...) But anyway, I want to know if you guys have any suggestions as to were this story will go! I have a vague idea but I would love to hear what y'all have to think. Also, updates will be rather infrequent, once every one or two weeks, because of school. And life. SO yeah. I think Max is OOC but I needed someone to explain to Alex what was going on. And I stink at banter, sorry.**

**ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

**Chapter Two  
**  
What. The. Heck.

I stared at the...things that were protruding from my back. I blinked, thinking that, maybe, they would go away, that maybe I was hallucinating.

No such luck.

Staring some more, my brain finally computed what my eyes had sent it, and I yelped.

I had- I had... wings.

They were, admittedly, the most awesome wings ever. Each feather was a slightly different shade of gray, giving the impression of smoke. They were 14 feet long, roughly, and they were, for lack of a more macho term, beautiful.

If I do say so myself.

The entire experience of waking up with extra body parts is three things. One- terrifying. Two- disconcerting. Three- just downright odd.

My brain couldn't quite figure out how to manipulate these new limbs properly, and, if I had enough space to do so, I would probably fall over.

I groaned. It was like puberty all over again.

Once I had paused in my gaping, I looked around the room, averting my eyes quickly at the horrors that met them. Turning my gaze to my right, I lay eyes upon a group of kids who didn't seem to be that gruesome.

And all six of them had wings.

They were all watching me, staring at me as if I could be either friend or foe. Frankly, I was hoping for friend, because they looked like they knew what was going on around here.

I sat there for a few moments, wondering whether or not I could talk to them. Oh, what the heck. I decided. It's not as if they could make my situation any worse. After all, I was stuck in a dog crate and had wings. Things couldn't really get any weirder. It was then that I noticed I was unusually calm. Some kind of shock, I reasoned. Sooner or later I'd crack.

"Hey, you!" the eldest, a blonde girl, spoke roughly.

"Good to meet you, too," I ground out at her. I was too sore and tired to bother with being polite.

At my obviously British accent, she stated, rather cliché-like, "You're not from around here, are you."

"Been watching too many Westerns, have we?" I shot back.

She cracked a grin,"Yeah. Maybe I have. What can I say, my sister loves them."

"Listen. Can one of you people tell me what exactly is going on here? I'm wandering through the woods, it all goes dark, I wake up in a cage, get sedated, and then wake up, again in a cage, with WINGS ON MY BACK!" That last part was said rather more loudly than I had intended.

"You're at the School. I'm Max, this is Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. We're the Flock, the first successful avian/human hybrid. Basically, we're bird-kids. The School is a nasty place that specializes in ruining people's lives and messing with DNA. While you were 'wandering through the woods', as you put it, they must have caught you and decided you would make a great test-subject."

I groaned. "As if my life is messed up enough already," I mutter.

An ugly man/wolf dude came in with an insane smile plastered on his face. "Little Alex should have known not to mess with Itex," he said gleefully, voice scratchy.

"What's it to you, ugly?" Yes, I know, not the best comeback, but it was the best I could think of. Keep in mind, I'm in shock.

Apparently, the wolf/man/thing wasn't very smart, because he stuck his tongue out at me as a retort. I snorted. How immature.

"You're coming with me," the wolf/man snarled in that irritatingly scratchy voice of his. "The Director has a grudge."

"Really? What's his name?" I inquired. Many people hate me; it's a gift. I was wondering who I had angered this time.

"You'll know soon enough." The wolf/man growled as he unlocked my cage and grabbed me with a meaty paw.

Yanking me upright, he roughly pulled me through the white halls.

We arrived in front of an imposing wooden door and walked through into a generic, boring room beyond.

There was a wooden desk with a laptop, closed, on top, a spin-y office chair behind it, just in case the evil masterminds felt like having some childish fun. A bookshelf filled with heavy science books stood in the corner, and a fur rug lay at their feet.

I was willing to bet it belonged to some endangered species.

The Director was sitting erect in his fun office chair, and I didn't recognize him immediately. I wondered who he was, to want to ruin my already ruined life even more.

"Hello, Alex Rider. My name is Rothman. Remember my mother?" Rothman Jr. said.

"I didn't know she had a kid. Yeah, I remember her, the liar." Alex responded, hiding his shock.

"DON'T. INSULT. MY. MOTHER." Rothman Jr. shrieked, shooting to his feet.

"Fine, then. What do you want with me? Why am I here, and why did you give me wings, of all things? That was rather stupid of you, you know. I could just-" Here he flung his wings out for emphasis "-Fly away."

He grinned as Rothman Jr. hastily hid his surprise.

"To answer your questions, you are here because we found you skulking in the woods and we didn't want you there so we brought you in. We gave you wings because we were in need of another test subject and then you handily popped up. Thank you for that, by the way. You saved us a lot of trouble. And you can't escape, because we have certain methods to keep you here."

"Methods, huh? Well, I can't wait to show you how your 'methods' will fail to keep me here." I smirked, though inwardly I was getting rather worried.

I had, of course, seen all of Rothman Jr.'s methods on the way over. The wolf/men were patrolling everywhere and there were cameras all over.

But of course, I am Alex Rider. Nothing could keep me pinned down.

**So yeah. REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I fixed this chapter! Yay! Now we get more of MI6's side of things, because honestly that last one was horrible. It was pointed out to me in a review that MI6 wouldn't have left Alex stranded in America for a year, so I made it four months and gave a sort-of good-ish reason for the lapse. Even MI6 is failable sometimes. Anyway, NEW CHAPTER WITH BETTER WRITING! YAY! Also I feel really epic 'cause I'm in such a writing mood that I just feel really good. I dunno.**

**OH! If any of y'all are bored, look up the song Humming Bird by Alex Clare. I LOVE IT.**

**Chapter Three  
**

It had been months. Four of them, to be exact. I had had pretty much all I could take of this place in the first one. This was worse than anything I had experienced before.

It was worse than Brecon Beacons. It was worse than any of my missions. It was worse than my old school, where the stupid teenagers all believed I was a druggie. At least at Brooklands I had a friend- Tom.

Here I was all alone. Of course, there were the bird-kids, who were friendly to me when we were put in the same room, but we didn't see each other often.

Rothman Jr. had decided that the best thing for him to do was make my life as horrible as possible. I was put in solitary confinement every night, left alone, caged, in the dark. I was rarely fed, and when I was, the food was barely fit for day every day, I was experimented on by the evil white coats, who's sadism knew no bounds.

I learned fast that resistance was futile, that escape was impossible. Hope deserted me- it was all I could do to continue living.

But live I did- despite the fact that I could now feasibly be classified as a mutant freak, if there was one thing I was good at, it was living through hard situations.

* * *

Mrs. Jones let out a sigh as she sat down at her desk, letting herself relax, if only for a second. Finally, finally, that debacle in China was over! The whole thing had been one huge political nightmare, and it d taken the combined best efforts of Britain's finest minds to prevent World War III. Mrs. Jones hadn't thought about much else in months.

She began sorting through all of the paperwork that had piled up while she had been busy saving the world.

She had signed off a few missions, authorized several drastic actions, and advised exactly six bigwig politicians before her eyes fell onto a report filed by Smithers himself.

Apparently, Alex had missed all of his pre scheduled check-ins and Smithers was worried. The report's date was yesterday, and underneath it was a stack of very similar reports dating back to right after the China Debacle had sucked all of her attention. Each consecutive report increased in urgency until the last one, which was pretty much a politely worded 'If you don't figure out what's happening soon, I quit.'

What Mrs. Jones uttered next was so out-of-character, the only possible explaination was the fact that she hadn't slept properly in a week.

"Sh*t."

Mrs. Jones hauled her weary self out of her office and into Mr. Blunt's, dutifully toting Mr. Smither's concerned reports as evidence to prove that they really ought to do something about the situation. Mr. Smithers was an integral part of MI6 that they could not afford to lose.

Mrs. Jones stood outside the bland door that hid her superior from view, knocking three times as per usual.

"Enter," Mr. Blunt called, voice emotionless.

Mrs. Jones entered and spread out the reports on Mr. Blunt's desk so that he could properly see the muck they had gotten themselves into.

Honestly, they had no right to forget about Mr. Rider, after everything he had done for them. Mrs. Jones recalled why exactly they were investigating Itex and shuddered at the thought of what the blonde boy may have gone through.

As Mr. Blunt surveyed the papers in front of him, his face actually formed an emotion- that of displeasure.

Obviously he was not pleased with the situation either. But he showed more restraint than Mrs. Jones had previously. Displaying emotion was as far as he went in expressing his displeasure.

"What do you propose we do?" Mr. Blunt inquired of his underling.

"I think that we should go in after him. The fact that there has been no contact says that something is going on. We need to get him out of there- if he is even still alive."

Mr. Blunt nodded. "I will let you organize the raid, and I will finish up with that mess in China."

Mrs. Jones nodded, relieved to be off the China thing, but not exactly happy about her new job. Organizing an extraction on American soil would be difficult, especially because the Americans didn't know that they had sent in Mr. Rider in the first place.

If she were any less Deputy Head of MI6, she would have sighed.

But she didn't.

**Ok so review and tell me if you like the changes that I made.**

**~Pseu**


	4. Chapter 4

**Woah. This chappie is LONG. And stuff happens! YAY! I don't know if it notified all y'all who are following this story, but I fixed up the last chapter and made it better. I also changed a few details that you might want to be aware of. Anyway, I hope you like this super long (for me anyway) chapter! **

**ALSO- I do not own the songs mentioned herein, though I do highly recommend them. Lyrics courtesy of AZ Lyrics dot com.**

**Chapter Four**

**June 8th- Alex**

I am tired.

I haven't seen the light of the son in five months.

Hope is a foreign concept, as are food, comfort, warmth, and safety.

I have begun to give up. What is the point of staying alive if the rest of my life will be spent here, with these sick and twisted whitecoats taking advantage of me and testing me?

Where is MI6?

* * *

**June 9th- Mrs. Jones**

The raid has finally been organized. It took forever due to the Americans initially not wanting anything to do with us. But Mrs. Jones was not Deputy Head of MI6 for nothing. Being a diplomat, she had somehow gotten the Americans to authorize the raid and let her use her own soldiers.

The best of the best were to be used in this extraction.

Mrs. Jones went over in her head the plans again, and then began to brief the soldiers, who were only told that they were looking for Alex, but not why. They had been informed that Itex had been under investigation by MI6's best agent and that Alex had been captured by them, but they were not told that the best agent had been Alex.

The were informed that, originally, Itex had been investigated under suspicion of human testing and to not be surprised if they encountered what seemed to be Hell On Earth today.

The soldiers nodded, and attempted to prepare themselves for that which cannot be prepared for.

Mrs. Jones checked her watch (which doubled as an emergency signal and had a poisoned dart hidden inside- courtesy of Smithers) and saw that it was almost time for the raid to take place.

She ordered her men into position and retreated to her spot outside of the action before she gave the order to go ahead through the radio.

The men captured the building with difficulty. They were not prepared to face the Erasers. But, on the other hand, the Erasers had not been prepared to face the army of Britain's finest, and were caught off-guard.

Mrs. Jones hated to admit it, but that was probably the only reason they had won.

All of the Erasers were carted away to goodness-only-knows-where and the human scientists were clapped in irons and delivered to the American Law Enforcement with enough evidence to put them all away for years.

The experiments were all delivered to the government for them to figure out what to do with them, except for Alex, who went back home to England. Rothman Jr. was extradited to Britain and put away in a maximum security prison for the rest of his life.

In a way, it was poetic. The one who had caged so many was now caged himself.

And so ended the School.

Or, at least, the Californian branch of it.

* * *

**June 9th- Alex**

I woke up.

How exciting.

I stared out of the bars of my crate into the darkness, wondering, as my stomach growled, if they would bother feeding me or giving me water today.

After a few hours passed, I decided that they probably wouldn't.

Then, for lack of anything else to do, I wondered if they would take me out for testing today.

I came to the conclusion, just as I had the day previously (and the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that, ect.) that it didn't really matter. They either took me or the didn't.

As I had before, out of sheer boredom I began mentally reciting the lyrics to a few of my favorite songs.

I decided to attempt to remember "If Everyone Cared" by Nickleback.

_From underneath the trees, we watch the sky_

_Confusing stars for satellites_

_I never dreamed that you'd be mine_

_But here we are, we're here tonight_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died_

_And I'm singing_

_Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive_

_Amen I, Amen I, Amen I, I'm alive_

_And in the air the fireflies_

_Our only light in paradise_

_We'll show the world they were wrong_

_And teach them all to sing along_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive_

_Singing Amen, I, I'm alive_

_(I'm alive)_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died_

_When nobody died..._

_And as we lie beneath the stars_

_We realize how small we are_

_If they could love like you and me_

_Imagine what the world could be_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died_

_If everyone cared and nobody cried_

_If everyone loved and nobody lied_

_If everyone shared and swallowed their pride_

_Then we'd see the day when nobody died_

_We'd see the day, we'd see the day_

_When nobody died_

_We'd see the day, we'd see the day_

_When nobody died_

_We'd see the day when nobody died_

I was pretty surprised that I remembered all of them, because "If Everyone Cared" was far from my favorite song. It did remind me of my situation, though. If all of those 'bad guys' I thwarted so often cared about human life, then my family wouldn't be dead.

To further stave off boredom, I mentally sang a few more songs. "Pain" by Three Days Grace, "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down, and "Meant to Live" by Switchfoot.

That method of boredom-prevention had served me well during my stay at the School.

But soon my mental playlist had been depleted and I was back at square one- trying to figure out what the heck I could do while sitting in a dog crate.

Surprisingly enough, dog crates are not fun. I'm pretty sure that, if I ever get out of here, my back will have a permanent curve to it, because, while my crate was big enough for a Great Dane, it was most definitely not big enough for a 16-year-old British super-spy.

As I was mentally composing a letter of complaint to PetMate, the unwitting makers of my cage, I heard an odd noise.

Were those... _gunshots_?!

They _were_!

A grin covered my face. If I was right, MI6 had finally decided to get their butts down here and rescue me.

_Took you long enough,_ I thought as I waited patiently for all of the enemies to be taken out and dealt with.

Well. _Patiently_ meaning pretty much anything but.

When some soldier finally kicked down the door to the dark room I was in, I was pretty much ready to explode.

"Hulllo!" I exclaimed cheerfully from within the recesses of the much-too-small crate.

The soldier jumped, obviously having not expected there to be another person in the room, which was only a little bigger than a storage closet.

"Light switch is to your left, and I would really appreciate it if you would let me out of this stupid crate."

The soldier flicked the switch and his eyes widened when he saw me. He quickly undid the locks on the crate, saying, "You're the one we were told to find! I have to take you to the lady in charge- the never did tell us her name."

"If they didn't tell you, it probably wasn't relevant. Please, take me to the lady in charge." I said.

And so the man did.

I was lead out of Itex and into the open air for the first time in almost half a year and just had to pause a bit to feel the cooling wind brush against me. The oppressive east felt like heaven compared to the unnaturally clean air of inside the School. But my revelry was soon cut short as I snapped back to reality and resumed my steady walk following the soldier.

**Sorry for the weird ending, I just felt it was done. Anyway, tell my what y'all thought!**

**~Pseu**


	5. Chapter 5

**HEY GUYS LOOK A CHAPTER YAY.**

**Ugh School starts monday and I'll have even less time to write.**

**This chappie is lame-o, okay? Seriously. Mostly introspection. My computer is being a butt so I had better hurry up.**

**Also I got braces. Whoop. Not fun.  
READ, ENJOY, REVIEW, KAY!**

**Chapter 5**

**June 9th- Mrs. Jones**

She was signing a paper authorizing the extradition of one Mr. Rothman Jr. when she heard footsteps approaching her. A heavy pair, obviously a soldier, and a lighter pair, walking on instinct so lightly that Mrs. Jones could barely detect them.

She finished scratching her name with the plain ballpoint pen that had been handed to her by the stern-faced man who had handed her the paper and handed both back to said man. Then she turned around to view who exactly was approaching her.

She first saw the soldier, because he was the larger of the pair. But a split second later, she saw the boy who was barely recognizable.

Thin from months of neglect, face hard from horrors that even Mrs. Jones couldn't imagine, Alex Rider stood before her in a plain white hospital gown, barefoot. He had been changed in his time at the School, both in physical appearance and genetic makeup, it seemed.

As she saw the smoky gray wings that extended majestically from his back, she barely managed to conceal her surprise.

Alex noticed her surprise and inwardly smirked.

"Hey," he said calmly, as if they were just meeting over coffee or something.

Mrs. Jones swallowed her shock- what had she expected, anyways?- and her face melted back into its typical emotionless facade.

"Dismissed," she barked at the soldier who had lead Alex there. Said soldier, noting the tension between the two in front of him, was glad to depart.

"I appolgize, on behalf of MI6, that we could not get here sooner. Multiple complications arose." Mrs. Jones spoke crisply to Alex, who grew rather angry at the calm manner of conversation.

"Oh, you apologize! Well that's brilliant! That makes it all better, now doesn't it?" Alex spat angrily, though his voice didn't rise. "Complications arose, did they? Well I suppose, if complications arose, all can be forgiven! Do you have any idea what I've been through these past months? No! You don't! So don't start to bloody apologize! It won't do any good. They broke me, you know. There is only so much a fifteen year old can take. I'm of no use to you now. So you can just f*** off." Alex, it seemed, was angry.

Mrs. Jones felt a horrible feeling encroach upon her, something she hadn't felt in years. It was guilt. Normally she could lock said emotion in a closet, deep in the recesses of her mind, but not today. Today it was breaking free and she couldn't stop it. The only thing she could do was hide herself in a private area where she could express the foreign emotion properly, without watchers.

So she made a strategic retreat.

"I know that what we did is unforgivable. I will do everything I can to make certain we will not use you again. And that you receive payment for our previous missions. I am sure something can be arranged regarding your-" here she paused, searching for the right word to use. "- wings. You will return to England in that airplane right over there." And before Alex could even process what she had just said, Mrs. Jones was off, searching for privacy.

* * *

**Alex P.O.V.**

Wow.

I think I made Mrs. Jones feel guilty!

I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. But all the signs were there.

Well. That was an accomplishment if ever there was one.

As I trudged over to the airplane I reflected on my position. In the School I had often thought about getting out, but strangely enough I had never considered the real world complications a pair of wings caused. I already stood out at school, I really didn't need any more attention. I was glad that Mrs. Jones had promised no more missions, but what was I supposed to do with my life now? I was practically failing school and had missed a lot of material. I knew that I could catch up, given enough time, and I also knew that I would be given enough time. But the fact was, could I really go back to living a normal life after all I had gone through. I was telling the truth when I told Mrs. Jones I was broken. But I don't know how to get fixed. I thought back to what I wanted to be before I learned that my uncle was a spy, before MI6 butted in and ruined my life.

All I had wanted was to grow up and maybe be a lawyer.

But I wasn't sure I could.

Even before this last disaster of a mission, I could have hardly imagined myself grown up, with a respectable job and possibly a family.

Now I was even more of a freak than I was before.

What could I do?

_First thing's first,_ I thought to myself as a yawn escaped my lips, _sleep._

And, sitting in a homebound airplane, I slept.

**Lame chapter is lame.**

**See you on the next random burst of inspiration!**

**~Pseu**

**DONT FORGET TO REVIEW**

**AND STUFF**


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